Tesco marketing boss to leave the business

Tesco’s most senior marketer, group customer director Emma Botton, is set to depart the business.

In an internal memo shared with Marketing Week, Tesco chief commercial officer Ashwin Prasad praised Botton for her “key role in rebuilding Tesco’s brand as part of [its] turnaround” and her “important” role in the leadership team.

Botton has spent eight years at the retailer. She joined in 2016 as marketing communications director, before being promoted to group brand, proposition and marketing communications director in 2021.

She became Tesco’s most senior marketer when chief customer officer Alessandra Bellini left the business last year. Bellini’s departure triggered a restructure of the marketing team. Her role was not directly replaced, with Botton becoming the brand’s most senior marketer as group customer director.

Tesco has not confirmed whether it will look to directly replace Botton’s role or embark on another restructuring of the team. In his memo to colleagues, Prasad said he would “share more information shortly in relation to how [Tesco] will lead [its] customer marketing agenda”.

Prasad highlighted Botton’s role as an “initial architect” of Tesco’s long-running ‘Food Love Stories’ campaign, which he noted had been recognised in effectiveness awards. She also played a “critical” role in bringing some of Tesco’s best-known propositions to life, he said, including exclusive loyalty member discounts in Clubcard Prices, and the Aldi Price Match initiative.

This Much I Learned: Tesco and BBH unpack an award-winning agency/client relationship

Underpinning that output, Botton has also worked behind the scenes in Tesco’s marketing team to build capabilities, he noted. This work includes developing content creation and media planning centres of excellence, promoting innovation and brand strategic planning, and driving digitisation.

Speaking to Marketing Week’s This Much I Learned podcast last month, Botton also highlighted how she and her colleagues had worked closely with agency BBH to create a long-running and successful relationship.

In the memo, Botton thanked her colleagues for a “brilliant gig” at Tesco.

“I’ve always believed in the power of putting the customer at the heart of the conversation as the essential catalyst for growth and creative solutions and I’m so proud of the work I’ve contributed to,” she said. “After eight years, I want to progress in a new direction. I’m excited about what the future holds and the opportunities that lie ahead.”

Botton has not yet confirmed her next move.